Save the Environment - eat with your hands!

Browsing through ABC News (Australia) website I came across what appeared to be a quaint little story from China. Apparently they are going to levy a 5% tax on disposable wooden chopsticks. Weird or what? You might think so - until you delve a little further into the complete picture. Apparently the Chinese government is embarking on a campaign to cut environmental waste by 20% over the next five years. That's quite a task considering the expanding economy of the country and the new-found affluence of many of its citizens. The increase in car use and increasing demand for power to fuel both industry and a higher standard of living must certainly be making an environmental impact which affects the whole world. Car taxes are to rise and many other measures are to be taken. So what good is a tax on chopsticks going to have? Look at the figures. According to ABC's story China gets through more than 10 billion boxes of chopsticks annually - and goodness knows how many chopsticks there are in a box. That's an awful lot of trees and a lot of energy used in their manufacture. At home - although they are not used often, I have sets of chopsticks made of plastic which I have owned for the past thirty years. They can be washed and used again and again. That makes sense. It is not often that I can say that I agree with something the Chinese government is doing but this time they are right. I hope their strategy succeeds, partly because it will benefit not only China but the whole world. US, Europe and other consumer-led cultures take note and follow. A 20% cut in energy drains across the world would go a long way to saving the planet for all our futures.